In the What to Watch article series, I analyze the video services available in Hungary and try to find out who is worth using them.
HBO Go is a streaming service that belongs to the HBO Group (a.k.a. Warner Media), which is also available in North and South America, Asia, and Europe. This service started from New York in 2010 and arrived in Hungary on the 6th of June 2011.
Its predecessor was HBO On Demand, which existed between 2008 and 2010 and was a VOD. It was available with a subscription to HBO. Its successor is HBO Max, which replaced it in May 2020 only in North America so far.
+ ADVANTAGES
- There is a 1-week trial period to which the user is always entitled once every twelve consecutive months. If we cancel the service during this time, we will not have to pay for it.
- There is an original dub for everything. There are also several types of subtitles (English and Hungarian), except for the series intended for children, where there are no captions at all.
- It can be used on two different devices simultaneously with one subscription.
- There is a parental control that can be set according to age rating (6, 12, 15, 16, and 18).
- HBO has original content that can only be accessed legally here (e.g. Game of Thrones, Chernobyl).
- It does not require an HBO TV channel subscription, but HBO Go is free with an HBO subscription.
– DISADVANTAGES
- The price is relatively high, 1890 Ft/month, and the price is automatically deducted from your account until you don’t cancel it.
- It is only on the internet, so anyone who doesn’t have a smart TV or set-top box can only watch it on a computer and smart devices. You need to download an app to your smart devices. You don’t need a continuous broadband Internet connection to use it because you can download content to your smart device through the HBO Go app, where you can then watch it when you don’t have an Internet connection.
You can choose from over 4,000 episodes of the series, along with the latest blockbusters. I didn’t count all the episodes, but if we take into account that series like the 279-episode-long licensed The Big Bang Theory or the 96-episode-long HBO original Entourage are fully available, at least four thousand episodes are likely available. And the films can be released 10-11 months after the theatrical release.
MENU (the number of programs may vary, but like that described here, there are overlaps):
- Home: There are movies and series here
- Our recommendation: approximately 266 new movies and series
- Continue watching: episodes following the last viewed episodes, if any
- Not Only For Millennials: 57 movies and series for young people
- After 30 coins: 30 coins and other horrors (20)
- The James Bond Collection: James Bond movies (26)
- From DC Comics: DC movies and series also owned by Warner Media (20)
- Family Time: 58 family movies and series
- Stories We Live: 29 movies and series
- Sci-fi & Fantasy: 75 movies and series
- Most popular series: the 42 most popular series
- From Scandinavia: 21 Scandinavian feature films, short films, and series
- Mystery and Horror: 63 movies and series
- Wizarding World: Harry Potter Movies (10)
- Perfect to Binge-watch: 104 series
- Made in Hungary: 20 Hungarian feature films, short films, and series
- Women in the Spotlight: 72 female starring films and series
- What to Watch in 1 Weekend: 83 series
- Emmy: 51 Emmy Award-winning shows
- Evergreens: 74 mostly older films
- Love Stories: 47 romantic movies and series
- Based on Books: 53 movies and series based on books
- Recently Dubbed: the latest series, seasons, and episodes with Hungarian dubbing
- Perfect to start with: 73 series
- Comedy: 243 feature films, short films, and stand-up comedy
- Returning series: 80 series
- Most Popular Movies: The 42 most popular movies
- Documentary Festival: 96 movies and series
- Arthouse movies: 68 movies with the original dub
- Open your eyes: 56 movies and series
- Recently Added: the latest shows
- True Stories: 93 movies and series based on true stories
- Blockbusters: 45 movies
- Disney: 33 Disney animated and live-action movies and series
- HBO Europe: 43 European feature films, short films, series, and documentaries
- Action and Adventure: 169 movies and series
- Cult Series: 33 series
- Drama: 461 movies
- LGBTQIA+: 62 films and series
- HBO originals: 164 films and series from the American HBO and Cinemax
- Series:
- Trending Series: 20 series
- Returning Series: 80 series
- Recently Added Series: 11 series
- Perfect to start with: 73 series
- HBO original series: 192 series
- Most popular series: the 42 most popular series
- What to Watch in 1 Weekend: 83 series
- #ForTheThrone: everything that is Game of Thrones (6+the series itself)
- Critically acclaimed series: 220 IMDB 7+ Series
- breakdown by genre: drama, comedy, crime, thriller, sci-fi, fantasy, documentary, and other categories a series can belong to several genres (e.g. 30 Coins and Batwoman are crime and sci-fi too)
- Movies:
- Trending Movies: 20 movies
- Recently Added: 17 movies
- Wizarding World: Harry Potter Movies (10)
- HBO Original: 170 films
- Most Popular Movies: The 42 most popular movies
- IMDB 7+: addition and short live-action and animated films rated above 7 points on the online film database (283)
- breakdown by genre: action & adventure, drama, comedy, crime, romantic, thriller & horror, sci-fi & fantasy, evergreens, family, documentary, music, and other categories a film can belong to several genres (e.g. The Art of the Steal and You Kill Me are also crime and comedy)
- Kids:
- To Watch in Family: 30 family movies for over 7-years-old
- For the little ones: 33 age-restricted animated films and series
- For the older ones: 54 animated and live-action films and series for over 7-year-old
- Disney: 33 Disney animated and live-action movies and series
- Popular Series: the 20 most popular series
- Magic & Fantasy: 18 animated and live-action movies and series
- Heroes: 34 animated and live-action films and series
- Animals: 20 animated films and series
- Let’s have fun: 33 animated and live-action movies and series
- Let’s learn together: 17 animated and live-action short films and series
- Goosebumps and action: 25 animated and live-action movies and series
- My Friends: 20 animated and live-action films and series
- Families We Love: 15 movies and series
- Schedule: here, you can watch the schedule of HBO, HBO 2, HBO 3, Cinemax, and Cinemax 2 19 days in advance, and if there was already the premiere of that show, you can watch it immediately.
FUNCTIONS
You can filter the results by genre in each menu/category. You can search for movies (e.g. by title, actors, or director). In some menus/categories, you can sort the results by popularity, time of add, IMDB rating, or alphabet. You can also change the dubbing and subtitle while watching, the size of the latter can also be changed. You can backward and forward 10 seconds in playback. You can mark shows as favorites (making them more accessible, useful for series). You can also see how long a content is available (because after a while, non-HBO-original movies are exchanged). You can resume the show from where you left off earlier.
DOES IT WORTH?
If you don’t think it is too expensive and watch movies and/or series regularly, it probably does, but try it for a week free trial to play safe.